"The best outcome for you guys is everybody scattering and running off on their own. There aren't many of you anyway, so Konoha probably won't waste a ton of effort searching all over the Ninja World for you."
Nagato shook his head, placing his hand on Sasori's shoulder. "Don't worry, as long as Teacher Sosuke is around, it'll be fine."
Even though Sasori wasn't actually trying to use "running away" as an excuse to leave early, Nagato could see that Sasori was worried.
Their parents had all died at the hands of Konoha Ninja, but in slightly different ways. Sasori's parents were killed by Konoha Ninja on the battlefield.
So it was perfectly normal for Sasori to have some trauma related to wars involving Konoha Ninja.
"Worried? The only thing I'm worried about is whether Sosuke left some hidden Seal in my body." Sasori denied.
Because he had performed pretty well, plus there was a need for experimentation, Sosuke had undone the Fuinjutsu on his body.
However, Sosuke's Fuinjutsu skills were too advanced—Sasori had no idea whether Sosuke had actually removed all the Seals.
Seeing Sasori still putting on a tough front, Nagato didn't say more. He was two months older than Sasori after all, so he figured he should let it slide.
...
Konoha, Uchiha Clan Land.
After dinner, Shisui headed straight to Uchiha Fugaku's home.
These past few days he had been constantly thinking about how to better carry out the mission Mokgetsu had assigned him.
He wasn't so isolated that, like Obito, he had barely any friends in the Uchiha Clan, but among the Uchiha Shisui knew, not many fit Mokgetsu's requirements.
Mokgetsu needed Uchiha Ninja who were capable of taking on high-level missions.
In theory, as the Clan Leader of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Fugaku should be extremely familiar with all the Ninja in the clan.
But in Shisui's view, Uchiha Fugaku also belonged to that group of Uchiha who didn't really care that much about people outside the clan. If he just directly followed Fugaku's suggestions, it could create problems, so Shisui had prepared a supporting plan before coming to Fugaku.
By the time Shisui arrived, Uchiha Fugaku's family had just finished dinner as well, and the entire family was chatting leisurely in the yard.
Seeing Shisui arrive, Uchiha Fugaku's face lit up with a smile.
"Shisui-nii, good evening." Uchiha Itachi also took the initiative to greet Shisui.
"Mm, good evening." Shisui replied with a smile, then turned to Uchiha Fugaku and asked:
"Uncle Fugaku, is now a good time? I've got something I'd like to discuss."
Uchiha Fugaku nodded and led Shisui into the study.
"Here's the situation: recently the village has had a lot of high-quality commissions, and with the war having cost us some Ninja, Teacher Mokgetsu came up with an idea…" Shisui repeated Mokgetsu's words to Uchiha Fugaku.
Even if Shisui didn't have this requirement of finding Uchiha with suitable personalities, he would still have to come to Uchiha Fugaku.
Uchiha Fugaku was the captain of the Police Squad; if you want to redeploy a large number of Jonin from the Police Squad, both in terms of reason and procedure you have to discuss it with Uchiha Fugaku first.
"That's going to be a bit tough." A troubled look appeared on Uchiha Fugaku's face.
"Most of the capable clan members hold important posts in the Police Squad. If you suddenly ask them to give up their current positions to go on missions, I'm afraid most of them won't be willing." Uchiha Fugaku explained.
Even though he didn't think splitting the Police Squad from the Uchiha was all that important, when it came to where he stood, he would definitely still take Shisui's side.
With Shisui's ability, barring accidents, Shisui would be the new leader of the Uchiha Clan in the future. If he isn't allowed to carry out the ideas in his heart now, he might become even more radical later. At least for the moment, Fugaku could still help keep an eye on things.
"Mokgetsu's idea of assisting with reforms is beneficial to both the village and the Uchiha, but pushing reform is already something we're forcing through. If we then ask the clan's Jonin to give up their posts, the opposition within the clan will be huge."
If Shisui hadn't demonstrated overwhelming strength and won that wagered duel, the Police Squad reform would've been hard-pressed to pass at the clan assembly.
"Then we don't strip them of their original posts; they just temporarily leave their positions for a few years of training." Shisui began to lay out his own plan.
He had already considered Fugaku's concerns and had come up with countermeasures.
Before Sarutobi Hiruzen agreed to the Police Squad reforms, the Uchiha had no way to get rid of the Police Squad.
Because this was an order from the Second Hokage: the Police Squad was to be fully handled by the Uchiha Clan.
Which meant that all positions in the Police Squad had to be filled by Uchiha Ninja, and as a large department, the Police Squad required a lot of personnel.
Even if some Uchiha didn't want to serve in the Police Squad at the beginning, they still had to go in and fill the slots.
It's just that now the Uchiha had gotten used to the Police Squad, and on top of that, the Squad nominally wielded great authority; that's what led to the current situation.
Shisui felt that if he gave some people the chance to take on high-quality commissions, after a few years they might not even want to go back to the Police Squad.
Going on missions earns way more money than drawing a dead salary at the Police Squad. The commission pay from just one A-Class Mission is already quite a bit higher than a month's salary at the Police Squad.
"In addition, we can hold an event where Obito and I give a talk about how going out on missions helps with improving one's strength." Shisui continued.
As an Uchiha himself, Shisui felt that traditional Uchiha were easy to understand.
It basically came down to two things: they care about face, and they pursue strength.
If you reframe "doing missions to earn money for Konoha" as "going out to temper yourself to pursue growth in strength," Shisui imagined that a lot of Uchiha would be interested.
"In that case, it really does sound quite feasible."
Uchiha Fugaku thought it through carefully and had to admit that Shisui's idea nailed the pain points of Uchiha Ninja.
After the great war, Shisui and Obito's reputations had grown even more. If they both stood up and claimed that taking commissioned missions was more beneficial for strength growth, all the Uchiha would believe it.
Shisui and Obito indeed hadn't joined the Police Squad and had constantly been doing commissioned missions.
"Besides the intel on the clan's Jonin, I'll also need to trouble you to distribute this survey to all Uchiha Ninja." Shisui took out a questionnaire he had written and put it on the table.
This was his supplementary plan: based on Uchiha Fugaku's intel and combined with how each Uchiha answered the questions, he would do a comprehensive evaluation and ultimately select suitable candidates.
"It really puts me to shame—Shisui, even in the time left over from your Cultivation, you're thinking so much for the clan." Uchiha Fugaku couldn't help but praise.
This was precisely why, even when Fugaku wasn't entirely sold on Shisui's ideas, he still chose to support him. Shisui genuinely wanted to lead the Uchiha to become better, with no consideration for personal gain.
"It's a pity the last war came too suddenly and was too intense. Otherwise, I'd have brought Itachi along and let him see how you perform on the battlefield."
Shisui frowned slightly.
He really didn't understand what Uchiha Fugaku was thinking—Itachi was only a few years old. Even if Fugaku protected him well enough that nothing happened to him physically, the cruelty of war could leave an unpredictable impact on Itachi's mind.
But Fugaku was still Itachi's father, after all, so Shisui didn't say much more. He quietly adjusted his plans instead; after finishing his talk with Fugaku, he spent some time with Itachi in the yard.
Shisui had already quietly given Uchiha Fugaku's parenting skills a "not reliable" rating.
He even started wondering if the reason future Itachi became extreme enough to massacre the clan was because Fugaku gave him too many psychological shadows, causing problems in his personality.
Shisui decided to observe in detail, and if Fugaku pulled any more crazy stunts, he would increase his level of intervention to keep Itachi from being led astray.
After leaving Uchiha Fugaku's house, Shisui didn't go home. Instead, he went to Mokgetsu to report on the mission's progress and asked Mokgetsu to help check for any overlooked issues.
"Nicely done. The fact you could think of all this means you've made considerable progress already." Mokgetsu was quite satisfied with Shisui's performance.
Compared to before, Shisui's thinking was much more flexible now, and he better understood how to leverage the advantages he could mobilize.
Having received Mokgetsu's approval, Shisui felt even more confident inside.
He had to protect his teacher, and he had to protect the clan as well.
After Shisui left, Mokgetsu continued to delve into the Breathing Technique, and just when he was getting ready to sleep, the system suddenly popped up a notification.
[Disciple Might Guy has increased his strength and fame, and walked further down the path of becoming the strongest in Taijutsu. Progress reward obtained—Moderate Constitution Enhancement, Self-Selected Drawing Scroll Fragment·S+ (Master Level), Enhanced Taijutsu Insight]
The third Drawing Scroll fragment had arrived.
PS: Let's get a cool ability this time—preferably something from a widely-known series, so I don't end up picking another one from Pokemon again ()